Commonwealth Act No. 63, Act Providing for the Ways in Which Philippine Citizenship may be Lost or Reacquired (as amended)

Commonwealth Act No. 63, Act Providing for the Ways in Which Philippine Citizenship may be Lost or Reacquired (as amended) [], 21 October 1936, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b4fd1c.html [accessed 27 September 2017]

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This is an unofficial consolidation as edited in 1977.

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Section 1 How citizenship may be lost.

A Filipino citizen may lose his citizenship in any of the following ways and/or events:

(1) By naturalization in a foreign country;

(2) By express renunciation of citizenship;

(3) By subscribing to an oath of allegiance to support the constitution of laws of a foreign country upon attaining twenty-one years of age or more: Provided, however, that a Filipino may not divest himself of Philippine citizenship in any manner while the Republic of the Philippines is at war with any country;

(4) By rendering services to, or accepting commission in, the armed forces of a foreign country:

Provided, that the rendering of service to, or the acceptance of such commission in, the armed forces of a foreign country, and the taking of an oath of allegiance incident thereto, with the consent of the Republic of the Philippines, shall not divest a Filipino of his Philippine citizenship if either of the following circumstances is present:

(a) The Republic of the Philippines has a defensive and/or offensive pact of alliance with the said foreign country; or

(b) The said foreign country maintains armed forces on Philippine territory with the consent of the Republic of the Philippines: Provided, that the Filipino citizen concerned, at the time of rendering said service, or acceptance of said commission, and taking the oath of allegiance incident thereto, states that he does so only in connection with his service to said foreign Country: And provided, finally, that any Filipino citizen who is rendering service to, or is commissioned in, the armed forces of a foreign country under any of the circumstances mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b), shall not be permitted to participate nor vote in any election of the Republic of the Philippines during the period of his service to, or commission in, the armed forces of the said foreign country.Upon his discharge from the service of the said foreign country, he shall be automatically entitled to the full enjoyment of his civil and political rights as a Filipino citizen;

(5) By cancellation of the certificates of naturalization.

(6) By having been declared by competent authority, a deserter of the Philippine armed forces in time of war, unless subsequently, a plenary pardon or amnesty has been granted; and

(7) In the case of a woman, upon her marriage to a foreigner if, by virtue of the laws in force of her husband's country, she acquires his nationality.

The provisions of this section notwithstanding, the acquisition of citizenship by a natural born Filipino citizen from one of the Iberian and any friendly democratic Ibero-American countries or from the United Kingdom shall not produce loss or forfeiture of his Philippine citizenship if the law of that country grants the same privilege to its citizens and such had been agreed upon by treaty between the Philippines and the foreign country from which citizenship is acquired.

Section 2 How citizenship may be reacquired.

Citizenship may be reacquired:

(1) By naturalization: Provided, that the applicant possess none of the disqualifications prescribed in section four of Com. Act No. 473;

(2) By repatriation of deserters of the Army, Navy or Air Corps: Provided, that a woman who lost her citizenship by reason of her marriage to an alien may be repatriated in accordance with the provisions of this Act after the termination of the marital status; and

The procedure prescribed for naturalization under Act Numbered Twenty-nine hundred and twenty-seven, as amended, shall apply to the reacquisition of Philippine citizenship by naturalization provided for in the next preceding section: Provided, that the qualifications and special qualifications prescribed in sections two and three of Com. Act No. 473 shall not be required; and Provided further,

(1) That the applicant be at least twenty-one years of age and shall have resided in the Philippines at least six months before he applies for naturalization;

(2) That he shall have conducted himself in a proper and irreproachable manner during the entire period of his residence in the Philippines, in his relations with the constituted government as well as with the community in which he is living; and

(3) That he subscribes to an oath declaring his intention to renounce absolutely and perpetually all faith and allegiance to the foreign authority, state or sovereignty of which he was a citizen of subject.

Section 4

Repatriation shall be effected by merely taking the necessary oath of allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines and registration in the proper civil registry.